2013 CSA: Week 21

So this is Summer! Finally, after all of those <90 degree days, we’re finally here. Sweltering heat, how we have missed you! And that means the land is drying a bit so we’re finally working in some late summer cover crops for quick green manures, planting new bush and pole beans, trellising new transplants of all makes and models, and all the while we are already busily packing new flats with multiple varieties of seeds for upcoming Fall plantings.

The true heat of summer also means that soon we will take our summer CSA break. There was some confusion recently on this so I will clarify: You only pay for weeks you receive food. There are 34 weeks total in the season. If you signed on late, don’t worry – you payed for the pro-rated amount of weeks. I will never ask you or your family to fast because August is too hot for cucumbers or July is too wet for tomatoes. As soon as we know when the break is going to occur, I will write an email and post to the blog.

I hope that everyone enjoyed the Rabbit from last week. I grew up knowing the taste of wild rabbit and there is no comparison to the ones we raise in the shade of the orchard here. Each day those rabbits and the baby chicks happily receive small mountains of fresh colorful scraps from the veggie garden. But this week, the Meat CSA holds 3 Tenderloin filets – “the master of all steaks!” I know you’ll enjoy them – just please don’t overcook.

You have already read via email that this week is the last week to order Milk and Cheese for August. We are willing to offer Milk two times/month if this would make Milk and cheese more attractive an option. If you would take advantage of this with regular purchases, please let us know by email at: trippeldridge@whiteoakpastures.com

Finally, I want to recognize our new Chef at White Oak Pastures. Reid Harrison comes to us from Macon GA and honed his culinary skills at school in Chicago, as well as restaurants near and far. We’re so proud to have him join the team and look forward to offering some of his special creations to you over the coming weeks. And remember, your membership also includes a free tour of our farm and a meal at our small restaurant. So feel free to come meet Reid in person and see how we do Farm to Table at White Oak. 

No more news, let’s get down to dinner…

3 Tenderloins!

Pecans

Buckwheat Greens!

New beds

Marigolds thrive in okra shade

My friend sluggo

Week 21

 

Meat CSA: (call us on Monday by noon for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

Tenderloin Filet (x3) – Derived from the most tender muscle of the beef carcass, these steaks are the master of all steaks. Savor them for the evenings that really count. They lend themselves well to grilling, broiling and pan frying.  

 

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

Beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week. (Wanna add eggs to your order this week?  Please email me or call our office today: 229-641-2081)

Certified Organic Vegetables:

Buckwheat Ensalada – Young tender buckwheat greens are a perfect summer salad alternative when lettuce is out of season. They have a hint of nuttiness,  CLICK HERE to check out several tasty buckwheat green concoctions at Yummly.

Garlic – one head of Inchelium Red softneck garlic, an heirloom variety we know you’ll enjoy.

Okra or Bush Beans (very limited) –  Mixed varieties of tomatoes OR mixed Red and Green Okra.

Basil! – Caprese salads with Jay’s cheese are a summer favorite of mine. Pesto all around!  CLICK HERE FOR AN EASY PESTO RECIPE

Cucumbers or Squash – Squash still trying to make a comeback. But those Suyu long cucumbers just carry on like champions!

Peppers or  Eggplant – Mostly peppers. And they are delicious this week!

Mixed Hot peppers – Mostly, jalapenos and Cayenne types.  Bagged separately for your convenience.

Elliot and Stuart Pecans – from Pecan Point Farm and Koinonia farm, these are the last of our 2012 harvested crop and we look forward to a fresh new crop coming soon this Fall.  As you know, We sell lots of goodies from Koinonia at our farm store. And if you live in Columbus, you probably already know George and Becky of Pecan Point fame, or at least you’ve sampled their yummy pecan pancake samples. Yum! 

2013 CSA: Week 20

Remember those glorious, recently bygone days when Kale and Collards exploded from your CSA box each week. Fresh salad greens and crisp head lettuce held a permanent place in your crisper and radishes were a mainstay. And then remember when we first started receiving squash and cucumbers and still had all those carrots each week. Well, those days are passed and 3 months of rain is still taking its toll on us.  I truly believe it is important to eat seasonally and we are now sharing the best of what this particularly wet season has to offer us. On the protein side, we have beautiful eggs now and we have amazing Sirloin and Rabbit on the menu this week for the Meat CSA.  But what about the veggies? What did we manage to pull together this week???

Truth be told, I’m very proud of this week’s harvest.  While we’re not winning first prize at the state fair for biggest veggie, we are cranking out alot of variety. Check out how many OR items we have this week. And there’s just enough to go around. The CSA is the first priority and our near empty farmers’ market booth is proof.  As you all know, sometime in August we take at least two weeks off from deliveries due to the day and night heat restricting fruit production in most of our plants. There are the summer soldiers that march on however, and we are ever grateful for their consistent efforts: Peppers, Okra, Eggplant – We salute you!

Finally, you still have all of next week to call us and order your Organic Milk and cheese for August. We are considering going to a twice/month ordering schedule with Dairy if orders can increase a tad. Stay tuned in to the emails too, because we hope to offer Muscadines soon. And right now, we have new items available in our farm store such as Koinonia Peanut Butter! and Almost Rum Cane Syrup!

I hope everyone enjoys this week’s shares…

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Meat CSA: (call us on Monday by noon for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

Rabbit – (3 -4lb) American Chinchilla rabbit raised on pasture  here at White Oak Pastures.

Sirloin Steak – (16 oz) A larger cut that is great for those large families who still like a great steak. This steak is full of flavor and lends itself well to those who like the experience of eating great beef.

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

Beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week. (Wanna add eggs to your order this week?  Please email me or call our office today: 229-641-2081)

Certified Organic Vegetables:

Garlic – one head of Inchelium Red softneck garlic, an heirloom variety we know you’ll enjoy.

Tomatoes OR Okra –  Mixed varieties of tomatoes OR mixed Red and Green Okra.

Winter Squash OR Bush Beans– Waltham Butternut, Delicata, Acorn, or Baby Blue Hubbard.

Baby Celeriac OR Lovage– These are babies indeed. Also called celery root, Celeriac is the unsung frog prince of winter vegetables. We will grow these again through the winter and they’ll grow to 1lbs at each head, but this time of year we grow them for the celery taste in puree’s, sauces, and for your juicer. Enjoy!

Basil! – Caprese salads with Jay’s cheese are a summer favorite of mine. Pesto all around!  CLICK HERE FOR AN EASY PESTO RECIPE

Sweet Vidalia Onions – Purples and Yellows – still coming to you sweet and strong!

Squash OR Cucumbers – Somewhat less productive this week due to weather and disease in the fields. We have more plants coming on soon.

Eggplant OR Peppers – Less Eggplant and more Peppers. We hope the eggplant really take off soon. We’ve planted even more recently so we may be swimming in eggplant by summer’s end.

Jalapenos – Not too hot this week because of all the rain. So think of these early season Jalapenos as a soft landing before all the heat we’ll hopefully have later this year.

Figs – Just enough for those who didn’t receive them last week.

 

CSA 2013: Week 19

You’d be hard pressed to find a farmer who curses the rain. Rain is a gift from hands more powerful than ours. And fresh water is such a precious commodity when scarcity limits its use. However, in abundance, perpetually damp conditions usher in disease, fungus, and often increased pest pressures. You may have noticed more mosquitoes in some areas recently.  We have noticed other nefarious critters whose populations remain unchecked by predatory insects despite our planting beneficial plants to attract them. I have included some graphic pictures below that offer a glimpse of the effects of all the damp conditions on the farm. We still expect some dry hot weather to come soon. The next round of tomatoes and squash are set to begin fruiting over the next couple weeks. You’ll see that this week the determinate tomato varieties have lost their urgency to produce so we will be composting their remains soon. We still have some fun surprises in store this Summer. And if the rain sticks with us, we’ll have rice by Fall. (Just joking! – I hope.)

On the pasture side of things, the rain is always a blessing. Grasses are lush all over the farm and the livestock are happy. The rabbits and hogs are thoroughly enjoying the cooler than normal temperatures. And frankly, the cool night-time temperatures are wonderfully soothing to me too.

We’re moving out more winter squash this week because the high humidity has caused soft spots on many of them in storage. You get the good ones, I’ll eat the bad ones. You should see Baby Blue Hubbard, Delicata, or Acorn this week. Butternuts and more Acorn next week. Beans are making a brief return this week too! Thanks for shouldering the weight of the rain with us this summer. We’ll see drier work days soon!

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Meat CSA: (call us on Monday by noon for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

Ground Lamb – (2.5lb) Our ground lamb is rich in flavor and great on the outdoor grill, stove top, or George Foreman grill.

Gourmet Sausage – (1 package) Jim Snyder’s artisan creations. Love ’em!

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

Beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week. (Wanna add eggs to your order this week?  Please email me or call our office today: 229-641-2081)

Certified Organic Vegetables:

Garlic – one head of Inchelium Red softneck garlic, an heirloom variety we know you’ll enjoy.

Tomatoes OR Okra –  Mixed varieties of tomatoes OR mixed Red and Green Okra.

Winter Squash – Delicata (like last week), Acorn, or Baby Blue Hubbard. Most of you will receive the Hubbard this week – So here is a great recipe for a delicious soup! CLICK HERE.

Baby Cabbage – Here’s the sumptuous tip of the week. Take these baby cabbage(s) and wrap them in bacon and then tin foil. Then either through them in a fire or an oven for a reasonable enough length of time to fully cook the bacon and steam out the cabbage. Split into equitable shares for your guests and enjoy!

Beans – Provider Bush Beans. Just a half pound to share as a small side dish.

Basil! – Caprese salads with Jay’s cheese are a summer favorite of mine. Pesto all around!  CLICK HERE FOR AN EASY PESTO RECIPE

Sweet Vidalia Onions – Purples and Yellows – still coming to you sweet and strong!

Squash OR Cucumbers – Somewhat less productive this week due to weather and disease in the fields. We have more plants coming on soon.

Eggplant OR Peppers – Several different varieties of Eggplant, almost too many to name – but the take away message is the long skinny purple Asian eggplants have a tender skin that you can usually eat without peeling. The white thin eggplants and the fatter more traditional looking ones, regardless of the color are usually peeled at some point during or after cooking. If you receive a big guy this week, try this recipe for “Babaganoush”  The peppers you receive this week are still the early pickings that will help ensure robust plant growth over the months ahead. These are Carmen and Cow Horn peppers and the next time you see them they’ll have red tints in them – grown specially for roasting!

FIGS: Not in all locations, but the ones we miss we’ll get back to next week.

2013 CSA: Week 18

The sun! The glorious sun! Two solid months of endless rain, fog and gloom has lifted today and I may actually get a tractor in the field tomorrow before the chance of rain returns yet again. It is my weekly attempt to not rant about the weather in the Blog posts but the monsoon season we’re in currently has paved the road for consequences we will invariably feel down the road. Spoiler alert! If you like sweet potatoes, you may be in for a disappointing fall. Transplanting successions and the schedule of direct seeding is delayed by weeks and the mature summer squashes have withered from perpetual dampness. And don’t get me started on weed pressure: As a sculpture releases the figure from the rock, we battle to exhume produce from the weeds. We will have food for you, but just remember all of this rain when whatever inevitable outcomes occur over the weeks still ahead.

Through the mud and weeds, we have finished harvesting some of our large plantings. The very last of the carrots have been unearthed and are being distributed this week. Also, all of the garlic is curing in our barn. The past week and this week you have received the early garlic that probably would not cure well or would not save well as seed stock.  In the weeks ahead you’ll start receiving better looking heads each week. Finally, you’ll see Delicata Squash in your boxes this week. These are the thin-skinned winter squash that don’t need a curing period and are tender enough that you can cook and eat the entire squash. I’ve posted pictures of the other winter squashes we’re curing this week in preps for distribution over the weeks ahead.

And on the farm this week, we’re undergoing Global Animal Partnership inspections of our Beef and Hog operations. You may have noticed that we have several certifying agents that routinely help guarantee the animal welfare standards and food safety quality that we maintain.  As local CSA members, you are encouraged to come see our operation for yourselves. Everyone of our members gets a free lunch ticket with us and is invited for a free tour of the pasture, the gardens and the abattoirs. There are five generations of stories here and the latest and ongoing adventure is among the most exciting to share. If all of our customers could drive over and see it for themselves, then we would have no use for the certifications and labels.  Thanks to all of you for believing in and caring about both what we do and how we do it.

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Meat CSA: (call us on Monday by noon for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

Grass-fed Shoulder Roast – (3lb) The most flavorful and versatile roast of all. Great for slow smoking, oven or crock pot cooking.

Small Whole Chicken – (x2) Our whole free-range, pastured, heritage cross chicken. Individually bagged and sealed, and raised with no antibiotics or added hormones. Our chickens are also Step 5 rated by the Global Animal Partnership, which is the highest animal welfare rating.

 

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

Beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week. (Wanna add eggs to your order this week?  Please email me or call our office today: 229-641-2081)

Certified Organic Vegetables:

Garlic – one head of Inchelium Red softneck garlic, an heirloom variety we know you’ll enjoy.

Tomatoes –  Mixed varieties, enjoy!

Delicata Squash – A favorite winter squash with tender skin you can cook and eat! You can eat, but, honestly many people still skin it. Here are two recipes. One more involved than the other. You get two this week with the idea they would be sliced in halves and served as a side dish for four. Click here for “Simple Roasted Delicata” and “Braised Delicata with Sage and Citrus glaze” – and many of you will receive sage this week as well.

Baby Cabbage – Here’s the sumptuous tip of the week. Take these baby cabbages and wrap them in bacon and then tin foil. Then either through them in a fire or an oven for a reasonable enough length of time to fully cook the bacon and steam out the cabbage. Split into equitable shares for your guests and enjoy!

Basil! – Caprese salads with Jay’s Mozarella are a summer favorite of mine. Pesto all around!  CLICK HERE FOR AN EASY PESTO RECIPE

Gourmet Herb  – Sage or Stevia. Sage is a wonderfully potent herb for poultry, roasts, and even grill cheese sandwiches. Also featured in this week’s Delicata recipe above. Stevia is my favorite natural sweetener. Just add via an infuser ball with your favorite tea.

Carrots OR Okra OR Cherry Tomatoes  – The last of the carrots and the first of the purple and green mixed okra and Sungold Cherry Tomatoes! Hopefully we will see lots more of all of these before the year is up.

Sweet Vidalia Onions – Purples and Yellows – still coming to you sweet and strong!

Squash OR Cucumbers – Somewhat less productive this week due to weather and disease in the fields. We have more plants coming on soon.

Eggplant OR Peppers – Several different varieties of Eggplant, almost too many to name – but the take away message is the long skinny purple Asian eggplants have a tender skin that you can usually eat without peeling. The white thin eggplants and the fatter more traditional looking ones, regardless of the color are usually peeled at some point during or after cooking. If you receive a big guy this week, try this recipe for “Babaganoush”  The peppers you receive this week are the early pickings that will help ensure robust plant growth over the months ahead. These are Carmen and Cow Horn peppers and the next time you see them they’ll have red tints in them – grown specially for roasting!

2013 CSA: Week 17

Shake out that raincoat, it’s Fourth of July week! This is also the midpoint of the CSA season. Sometime soon, you’ll receive an email with a survey attached. I hope you’ll take a quick moment to fill it out and return it to us. Also, please remember to write down your box numbers each week. It makes our lives so much better when you do. (Also, don’t leave your CSA boxes near a stove-top – see picture below).

It’s fourth of July so you know we’re gonna give you what you need for Burgers and Wings! And more fresh tomatoes and onions to go with it! New this week is fresh garlic. The Big News this week is Organic Seedless Watermelons! Thanks to all who ordered and in doing so, helped us support the Wholesome Wave project. McClellan Organics is a terrific farm just southeast of us.  They’ve had a good harvest this year and we were able to buy enough Watermelons to give one to each Veggie CSA member.  We called everyone who ordered other melons yesterday and spoke with 99% of you. If you didn’t receive a voicemail from me, it is because you don’t have answering service on your phone, so please call me at my cell to let me know if I can bring you an additional watermelon with your order, or if you’d like a refund and just receive the single melon with your CSA share. (Again, this only applies to a handful of folks, please disregard if not applicable to you.)

Without further delay, here’s some pictures from our very rainy farm this week, followed by a list of farm-fresh scrumptious goodness…

 

Roasting Wings

No Brussel sprouts because of mold

Watermelons!

Barbeque Shindig celebrating Jodi and John’s engagement!

Lester Davis of COlumbus sharing his Nursery wisdom with Jesus

Ground Beef!

Meat CSA: (call us on Monday by noon for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

Grass-fed Ground Beef – (x2) A 90% lean ground beef that is great on the outdoor grill, stove top, or George Foreman grill.

Roasting Wings – Free-range, pastured, heritage cross chicken wings that have been cut into drums and flats for your convenience. Our chickens are raised with no antibiotics or added hormones. Our chickens are also Step 5 rated by the Global Animal Partnership, which is the highest animal welfare rating.

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

Beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week. (Wanna add eggs to your order this week, Please email me or call our office today to get on the waiting list! 229-641-2081)

Certified Organic Vegetables:

Watermelon – Happy fourth of July week! Seedless personal size watermelons from McClellan Organics!

Garlic – one head of Inchelium Red softneck garlic, an heirloom variety we know you’ll enjoy.

Tomatoes –  Mixed varieties, enjoy!

Kale OR Collards – Heat, humidity and too much rain – but we still make Greens happen somehow!

Purple Top Turnips – A root of southern distinction and culinary tradition. Try this recipe for Mashed turnips (try going half and half with some potatoes and turnips and subbing in your sweet onions for the crispy shallots). CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

Basil! – Sweet smell of summer. Look at the picture above as a reference. Purple ruffles is an obvious one. Top left is Genovese – the quintessential italian large leaf basil. Two others with smaller green leaves are lemon basil (with green flowers) and thai basil (with purple flowers). Each wonderful in their own unique ways. Go ahead and pull out your favorite Pesto recipe now or CLICK HERE FOR AN EASY PESTO RECIPE

Herb  – Fresh Rosemary or Mint this week.

Carrots  – Yellowstone, White Satin, and Scarlett Nantes. Wonderful colors, delicious texture and taste.

Sweet Vidalia Onions – Purples and Yellows – still coming on sweet and strong!

Squash & Zucchini – We have patty-pans that look like yellow or green space ships, and we have yellow crookneck and straightneck squash. Finally the ribbed zucchini are called Costata Romanesco. They are tender even when large and taste amazing.

Cucumbers, Slicing – good slicing cucumbers, suyu longs, or little round lemon cucumbers.

Cucumbers, Pickling –  Grab and go box again this week! Get your pickle ON!